At times, various products and systems may exhibit a repeated problem or issue. In such instances, a product modification may be formulated and then mandated via a notification. For example, in the aerospace industry notifications known as service bulletins are issued. There are times that a problem that has been addressed by a modification may persist, or when a new problem manifests itself after product modification. Currently, product reliability engineers tracking the effectiveness of such product modifications using manual processes. These processes include tracking configuration and accounting details, and searching for product return attributes that may indicate the ineffectiveness of a modification.
The manual processes that are used to track the effectiveness of product modifications rely on manual efforts to collect data, analyze the collected data, and interpret collected data. This can increase the chances of a delayed response to the potential ineffectiveness of a modification, which can in turn lead to end-user dissatisfaction. These manual processes are also reactive in nature, rather than proactive, which would be preferred. Moreover, the manual processes may not be conducted in real-time, and there is no method in place to automatically alert one or more users of the potential ineffectiveness of a product modification.
Hence, there is a need for a system and method for determining and tracking products into which a modification has been incorporated, and for automatically notifying personnel regarding the potential ineffectiveness of such a modification.